Simple Pendulum

A simple pendulum is one which can be considered to be a point mass suspended

from a string or rod of negligible mass. It is a resonant system with a single
resonant frequency. For small amplitudes, the period of such a pendulum can be
approximated by:

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For pendulum length

L= cm =
If the rod
m
is not of
and acceleration of gravity negligible Index
g= m/s2 mass,
then it Periodic
the pendulum period is must be motion
T= s treated as concepts
a physical
(Enter data for two of the variables and then click on the pendulum. Carroll
Eternity
active text for the third variable to calculate it.)
to Here,
p16
Note that the angular amplitude does not appear in the
expression for the period. This expression for period is
reasonably accurate for angles of a few degrees, but the
treatment of the large amplitude pendulum is much more
complex.

Sean Carroll relates the story of Galileo's discovery of the fact that for small
amplitudes, the period and frequency are unaffected by the amplitude. "In 1581, a
young Galileo Galilei reportedly made a breakthrough discovery while he sat bored
during a church service in Pisa. The chandelier overhead would swing gently back
and forth, but it seemed to move more quickly when it was swinging widely (after a
gust of wind, for example) and more slowly when it wasn't moving as far. Intrigued,
Galileo decided to measure how much time it took for each swing, using the only
approximately periodic event to which he had ready access: the beating of his own
pulse. He found something interesting: The number of heartbeats between swings
of the chandelier was roughly the same, regardless of whether the swings were
wide or narrow. The size of the oscillations - how far the pendulum swung back and
forth - didn't affect the frequency of those oscillations."

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Pendulum Motion
The motion of a simple pendulum is like simple harmonic motion in that the equation
for the angular displacement is

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which is the same form as the motion of a mass on a spring:

 Index

Periodic
motion
concepts
The anglular frequency of the motion is then given
by

compared for a mass on a

to spring.

The frequency of the pendulum in Hz is given

by

and the period of motion is

then

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HyperPhysics***** Mechanics R Nave

Period of Simple Pendulum

A point mass hanging on a massless string is an idealized example of asimple
pendulum. When displaced from its equilibrium point, the restoring force which
brings it back to the center is given by:

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For small angles θ, we can use the approximation

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in which case Newton's 2nd law takes the form
Periodic
motion
concepts

Even in this approximate case, the solution of the equation uses

calculus and differential equations. The differential equation is

and for small angles θ the solution is:

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 Pendulum Geometry
The period of a simple pendulum for small amplitudes θ is dependent only on the
pendulum length and gravity. For the physical pendulum with distributed mass, the
distance from the point of support to the center of mass is the determining "length"
and the period is affected by the distribution of mass as expressed in the moment of
inertia I.

Index

Periodic
motion
concepts

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Pendulum Equation
The equation of motion for the simple pendulum for sufficiently small amplitude has
the form

which when put in angular form becomes Index

Periodic
motion
concepts

This differential equation is like that for the simple harmonic oscillator
and has the solution:

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